A Friend in Need
by Margaret Dean
Summary: A drawing made by a friend gave me the idea of an elf with this particular bondbeast, and Plains Pride Holt gave me the opportunity. Originally published in Plain Winds #9.


**A Friend in Need**

_**by Margaret R. Dean**_

_"'Bye, baby bunting,_

_Daddy's gone a-hunting_

_To get a little rabbit-skin_

_To wrap the baby bunting in._

"Though actually, baby," added Rattlegrass, "your daddy went out to get groundbirds, not rabbits. But I'm sure if he finds a rabbit he'll bring it home for you anyway." She giggled and patted her bulging belly.

The pregnant elf leaned back against a spindly tree whose sparse shade gave scant protection from the hot golden sun of the plains. Not that Rattlegrass minded. Her dark complexion would take little harm, and she wore a grass-woven hat to keep the glare out of her eyes. A thick braid of golden-brown hair emerged from the top of the hat and fell down her back.

"I think your daddy's over there, on the far side of the water hole," she went on cheerfully, pointing. "I see a flock of groundbirds that way. We mustn't go up to him right now or we'll spoil his hunt, but when I see him coming back we'll go meet him."

Rattlegrass didn't usually talk to herself, but she was in the habit of chattering away to whoever else happened to be present. This habit and her dry-grass coloring gave her her tribename. At the moment no one was about except her soon-to-be-born baby. The Windstriders' camp was rather empty today. Most of the important hunters were off on some kind of important hunt, and even Raindancer the healer, who'd been staying close to Rattlegrass for the past few moons, had been called away to tend to a badly injured elf in the Tribe of the Red Lion. Rattlegrass had assured her friend she'd be fine, but by the time highsun came and went she'd finished the infant carry-basket she was weaving and started to feel fretful and lonely. That was when she'd decided to go out and find Corder, her lifemate. No one said anything to her when she wandered out of camp. Probably no one really noticed. Rattlegrass was the sort of elf people tended to tune out.

Ever since they'd Recognized, Rattlegrass always knew more or less where Corder was, but by the time she drew near the water hole she was tired enough to remember that her walking into the middle of a hunt would not be welcomed. She needed the rest anyway, so she'd sat down under this solitary tree to wait.

"Your daddy's a very good hunter," she told the baby. "And of course he has Raja and Ranee to help him. They're his bondmates, you know—that is, Raja is and Ranee is _his_ mate. I wonder if you'll have a bondmate when you grow up, little one? I never did." Rattlegrass sighed. She loved playing with jackal pups when other elves' bondbeasts whelped, but none had ever shown any sign of bonding with her. "No magic, I guess," she said, gazing wistfully in the direction of the water hole. A herd of wildebeest were drinking there. A whiff of their rank scent came to her along with the smell of dry grass. Not far from the wildebeest a pair of cheetahs took turns lapping the water too, not hunting and thus no threat to the herd.

"Ooh, look, serpent-noses!" Rattlegrass exclaimed, pointing. "Oh, little one, I wish you could see! Aren't they wonderful? I love watching them! One, two, three, four, five of them. I think they're all cows—it's not the season for the bulls to be with them. They're coming down to drink. They snuff the water up with their noses, you know, then spray it into their mouths. There's one of them squirting herself. What a good idea!" She laughed. "Maybe we should try that when your daddy gets here. He'll be hot and thirsty, I'm sure."

For a while Rattlegrass sat watching the serpent-noses. She'd always thought of serpent-noses as friendly, though of course she knew they could be dangerous if angered. Gazing at them, she could almost feel the sun-warmed water on their hairy backs, cooling thick hides as it dried. One of them trumpeted, and the sound thrilled along her nerves. Two more twined trunks in a companionable way. Friends…

Rattlegrass's reverie was abruptly broken by a low growl behind her. At the same moment a shift of the wind brought heavy cat-scent. The elf lurched to her feet, grey-green eyes wide with fright, whirled, then spun behind the tree just in time to avoid the lion's spring.

Rattlegrass screamed, trying to keep the tree between her and the predator. The lion's mane was ragged, its fur patchy and ill-groomed. Several teeth were missing from its snarl. _A rogue,_ she thought wildly. _Too old to hunt herd animals … looking for easy prey…_ And a solitary, very pregnant elf was easy prey indeed.

The tree was no good. No branches low enough to reach, and she couldn't jump or shinny up it in her condition.

Her heart raced. **Jir!** she sent in panic, knowing even as she did so that her lifemate was too far away to get to her in time—though she felt his alarmed response and knew when he plunged heedlessly in her direction, cool, practical Corder who never lost his head.

**Somebody, anybody, help!** As the lion crouched for another spring, Rattlegrass turned and ran. Dry grass lashed at her legs and waist. Her breath came in short gasps. Tears blurred her vision into a hot red-gold mist. She couldn't run for long—she was carrying too much weight and she couldn't breathe and any moment claws would rip into her back. The ground beneath her seemed to tremble, shuddering in rhythm with her pounding heart.

A trumpeting call, raw and shrill as a scream, shattered the air around her. Overborne, she clapped her hands to her ears and fell to her knees. In the next moment something warm and supple snaked around her waist and she was lifted into the air. Up, up, up … and then she was clinging to damp, shaggy hair as a huge, heaving bulk moved beneath her. Far away she heard the choking snarl of the lion suddenly cut off.

For many gradually slowing heartbeats she concentrated only on holding tight, breathing deeply, and not losing control of her bowels or bladder. With a sense of relief she felt the child squirm and kick within her as if demanding to know what in the world was going on. She gave a nervous laugh. _I'm not sure myself, little one, but I think we've been rescued._

In confirmation, something that was not quite like sending, and even less like words, penetrated her mind. //Friend safe?// it seemed to ask. //Friend not hurt?//

Sheer wonderment nearly prevented Rattlegrass from responding. _I do have a bondmate!_ sang something inside her. _I do, I do!_

//Not hurt,// she answered in the way that was not quite sending. //Safe. Safe with friend.//

Rattlegrass sat up carefully. You could see an awfully long way from a serpent-nose's back. She could see Corder coming, and the twin wakes of Raja and Ranee flanking him through the grass. **Jir!** she sent. **I'm all right!**

**Ili!** His return sending was relieved.

**Jir, look at me! Look! Isn't she beautiful?**

Corder stopped in his tracks as the serpent-nose approached, and stared up at his lifemate with his mouth hanging open. **_Ili?_**

**She's my bondmate!** Rattlegrass sent triumphantly. **She saved me from the lion. Don't be afraid,** she added as Corder began to edge away from the beast's huge feet.

At her wordless request, the serpent-nose gently lifted Corder onto its back as it had Rattlegrass, despite indignant yelps from Raja and Ranee. He slid down behind her and wrapped his arms tightly around her where her waist used to be. She could feel his heart beating rather fast against her spine, but he managed a shaken laugh. "Beloved, you never cease to amaze me. Do you really mean to bring your … friend … back to camp with you?"

"Why not? She _is_ my bondmate."

"I don't think she'll fit in our tent."

Rattlegrass giggled. "Well, but I have to _show_ everybody, don't I? After that I suppose she'll go free, but stay close, like other elves' bondmates do. I wonder if the rest of her band will stay with her?"

Rattlegrass glanced back toward the water hole and the other serpent-noses. At the same time she spotted a small cluster of elves. Accompanied by their jackals, they were examining the trampled carcass of the lion. "That's the hunting party that went out this morning!" she said, urging her bondmate in their direction. "There's Chieftess Crystalthorn and Tailchaser."

"Yes, they went out to track down the rogue lion that mauled Cloudcry, didn't you know?" Corder responded, giving her a quizzical glance.

"Somebody told me that. I guess I forgot." Corder rolled his eyes in amused exasperation.

The hunting party had much the same reaction as Corder when Rattlegrass rode up to introduce her bondmate, but it did not take long to reassure them that the serpent-nose meant them no harm.

"Saved us some trouble, I suppose, but spoiled the pelt," grumbled Jackalpaw.

"Wasn't much of a pelt anyway," Wildfeather pointed out. "Has your friend got a name?" she asked Rattlegrass in a jocular tone.

Rattlegrass thought for a moment. "Heffalump," she said suddenly and decisively. "That's her name." The serpent-nose trumpeted softly as if she liked it.

Crystalthorn laughed. "While we're on the subject of names," she proclaimed, "I think a momentous event like this should be suitably commemorated. Our Rattlegrass deserves a new tribe-name. From now on, my friend, we shall call you Highrider!"

All the hunters joined in the laughter.


End file.
